April 7, 2010

The Diel meta analysis

A response to the Chest article from medpage today
Action Points 
  • Explain to interested patients that this meta-analysis found that two newer blood tests for TB are each more sensitive than the old tuberculin skin test, especially when the tests were performed in the developed world. 
  • Note that the new tests evaluate the amount of interferon-gamma that is released by infected T cells after in vitro stimulation by specific Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens.